Improvement in pantaloons



' G. T. KEEN. Pantaloons.

' Patented Sept. 2,1879.

N PETERS, FHOTO LITHOGRAPNEOL WASHINGTON. D 04 UNITED STATES 'Pirrnnr OFFICE.

GEORGE T. KEEN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRIOTOF COLUMBIA.-

lM PROVEM ENT IN PANTALOONS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 219,269., dated September 2, 1879; application filed June 13, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEO. T. KEEN, of Washington, in the countyof Washington and District of Columbia, have invented certain Improvements in Pantaloons, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in providing a pair of pantaloons with a gore or opening on each side in rear of the side seam, and with a strap and buckle or equivalent device acting across the gore with a downward inclination to the rear, whereby the pants may be caused to conform closely to the person without causing an ob jectionable gathering or bunching of the material, without straining the waistband, and without exposing the openings or fastenings to view. 1

Pantaloons having a central opening and buckle in the back are very objectionable on account of the gathering of the material and the pressure of the same across the back of the wearer, and also because of the fact that they could not be made to fit without wrinkling.

In order to avoid these difficulties, pantaloons have for many years been made with side gores or openings in the top of the side seam, with a strap or other take-up device drawing directly across the same upon the waistband, which received the whole strain.

. This plan, while havingsome advantages over the other, was open to the serious objections that the openings and straps were constantly exposed to view, that when the strap was tightened the material was caused to gather in folds or bunches upon the hip, and that as the entire strain'was applied to shorten the waistband the garment was wrinkled upon the buttocks and in the legs.

By simply changing the position of the gore or opening from the side seam or hip to a point farther back, and setting the strap at an inclination so that it draws the material upward, I overcome all the difficulties enumerated, and produce a garment which may be caused to fit easily and snugly without wrinkling and without cramping in the waist.

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of my improved pantaloons in position on the wearer Fig. 2, a side view of the same.

A represents the body of the garment, of the same general form and construction as those now in use, with the exception that the back is closed, and that there is in each side, at a point in rear of the side or leg seam, a gore or opening, at, extending from the top downward and backward a distance of three, four, or more inches.

The gore is ordinarily two or more inches in width at the top and converges to a point at the bottom, and is preferably given a slight curvature, as shown. by athin soft piece of material, which will fold into a very small space as the gore is closed. Across the gore there extends a strap, B, secured to the waistband in front, and extending thence downward to a buckle, 0, se cured to the garment in rear of the gore and below the waistband.

It will be seen that when the strap thus applied is tightened it does not contract the garment directly around the waist, as usual, but instead draws upward obliquely across the hip and buttock, taking up the fullness of q material from the entire back of the garment,

and causing the same to fit smoothly and snugly to theperson.

In practice, it is found that pantaloons constructed as above described may be caused, by means of the strap, to fit snugly and smoothly without drawing or straining in the waist, that they do not gather or wrinkle either in the back, sides, or legs, and that under all ordinary circumstances their gores and fastenings are concealed from sight.

In the drawings the strap is shown in onepiece with the front waistband, being cut with a downward inclination; but it may be made separately and secured in place, and may be fastened otherwise than by the buckle, if preferred.

It is to be noted in connection with my oblique or downwardly-inclined straps that they are to be used only in connection with pantaloons which have the back closed or fastened by other means, and that each strap is to be extended backward but a short distance, and connected at its rear end directly to the garment, so that there shall be a considerable space between the rear ends of the two straps, and so also that each strap shall have connection only with its own side of the garment.

I am aware that pantaloons having a cen It is ordinarily closed x ter vent or opening in the back have been provided with two long inclined straps crossed at the back, each strap being extended from the side seam on one side around and across the back to the other side of the garment; and such arrangement I do not claim, my invention being restricted to the short straps, each confined to one side of the garment, as represented.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim isa 1. A pair of pantaloons having in each side a top gore or opening located at a point in rear of the side seam, and provided with a strap or take-up device extending across the same.

2. A pair of pantaloons provided on each side with a short strap and buckle, or equivalent take-up device, inclining downward and backward from a point at or near the side seam to a point on the same side of the garment at a considerable distance from the middle, as shown and described.

3. In a pair of pantaloons, the combination of the two side openings or gores, the two GEORGE T. KEEN.

Witnesses:

DoNN I. TwIToHELL, D. P. OowL. 

